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If you ever read the author before, you know Ms. Spencer is (was, since she doesn’t write anymore) a great storyteller versatile in both HRs and CRs. Her characters are often unconventional. None of her stories are alike. She doesn’t shy away from exploring difficult downright uncomfortable subject matters. I loved/ liked pretty much all of her HRs I read, but CRs were more of a hit-and-miss. This story was a miss.

Written in 1984, the book is dated with some cringe-induced non-PC moments which never less represented the times. I’ve read other Ms. Spencer’s story written at that time Separate Beds and although dated, I gave it much higher rating. Why? Because the characters were multidimensional, they were shining with realism. I was invested in their relationship, I wanted to shake them up (specially the hero) and I was rooting for their HEA.

It didn’t happen with this story. From a far-fetched premise to the relationship development that left me with more questions than answers, to not very likable main characters this second chance romance was off the mark.

Rachel and Tommy Lee were born two months apart, grew up together in a small Alabama town. They were neighbors, best friends, and then lovers. When Rachel became pregnant at seventeen, their parents arranged adoption and forced the young couple to separate. After attending separate colleges, they returned to their hometown. Rachel married another man and became exemplary town citizen and businesswoman. Tommy Lee, on the other hand, earned well-deserved reputation of the hell raiser. He married other women, fathered more children, and drank. Now, twenty-four years later, 41 year-old Tommy Lee is divorced for the third time and Rachel is a childless widow and the ill-fated couple receive a second-chance.

There were many issues that left unresolved, unexplored, not visited in this story. It was hard for me to believe that Tommy Lee, for example, can give up alcohol so easily after years of being alcoholic without any support and with no set back. The intensity of their relationship didn’t seem plausible after being apart for so long but also living so close to each other. The missing years made no sense to me. And I can go on and on…

Definitely not the story I would recommend even for Ms. Spencer’s fans.

Read information about the author

LaVyrle Spencer is an American best-selling author of contemporary and historical romance novels. She has successfully published a number of books, with several of them made into movies. Twelve of her books have been New York Times bestsellers, and Spencer was inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame in 1988.

Spencer is known for creating realistic characters and stories that focus on families rather than only the relationship between a man and woman. These "ordinary" men and women are warm and vulnerable and are always portrayed sympathetically.[1] Her heroines tend to be a mix of fire and warmth, strength, savvy and soft–heartedness who must overcome some sort of adversity, such as pregnancy, divorce, a lengthy separation, the loss of a loved one, and then undergo a catharsis. The stories center on themes of abiding love, family ties and strength in difficult times.

In the 1980s and 1990s Spencer wrote 12 New York Times Bestsellers. Her books have been sold to book clubs worldwide, and have been published around the world. Condensed versions of many of her novels have appeared in Reader's Digest and Good Housekeeping.